Liverpool's Flare, Out of Administration

Flare, based in Liverpool, has been acquired by a publicly listed company in Nottingham, completing the acquisition process during administration.

16:43 10 January 2024

Microlise Group plc, a developer of SaaS-based transport technology solutions for fleet operators, has confirmed the acquisition of the assets of K-Safe Limited, the parent company of road safety products Flare and Flare Aware, for a total consideration of £140,000.

This acquisition follows a pre-packaged deal initiated after the appointment of Begbies Traynor Group Limited. Kirk Ryan, co-founder and CEO of Flare, departed the company in November after eight years. As part of the acquisition, the two remaining staff members of K-Safe will join Microlise, and all customer contracts will be transferred.

Flare, with over 3.5 million regular users, serves leading brands like Deliveroo and Just Eat, as well as various two-wheeled vehicles such as cyclists, motorcyclists, and e-scooters. The mobile app provides users with incident detection, incident avoidance, SOS, and hazards functionality, enhancing safety during travels on public roads.

Flare Aware, a dynamic driver hazard warning system developed in collaboration with Microlise, utilizes data from the Flare mobile app user network. It offers awareness and alerts to drivers about fixed hazards like low bridges and weight restrictions, as well as dynamic hazards such as cyclists and motorcyclists. With this acquisition, Microlise gains exclusive rights to offer Flare Aware to its customers, leveraging the dynamic hazard warnings facilitated by the Flare mobile app user network.

The combined offering, integrating Flare's dynamic hazard solution with Microlise’s existing hazard warning product, presents a distinctive safety product for logistics operators. Microlise customers have already begun successful trials of the product in their operations and are poised to implement it on a broader scale.

Nadeem Raza, CEO of Microlise, expressed excitement about the acquisition, noting that it provides exclusive access to Flare and Flare Aware products. He highlighted that the Flare product extends Microlise's market offerings into the rapidly growing last mile solution space and the global two-wheel vehicle market.

Flare was featured in the TransportTech 50 rankings for 2021 and 2022.